get that weight of your shoulders

There have been a series of secret closed-door meetings in my office today which may have nothing to do with me but may also be about the details of a new position they'd like me to take at work. This would be added on to what I do now, minus the parking tickets, but with a significant raise and a commitment to stay several months longer than I'd originally planned.

I will seriously consider it.

Maybe with all that added moolah I could do one of those unpaid internships I've been eyeing; travel to Rochester, NY, to check out the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation (and visit friends in NYC, duh); visit Kara in Hawaii; and/or move to Seattle like I've been wanting to do FOREVER.

Or I could say no.

Move a few months sooner--how many months, I don't know. It could be two, it could be seven. I'm not entirely certain on what they'd require me to commit to.

This past week I lay down to sleep exhausted and then a niggling little thought, will I take the job?, creeps in and frets me into total wakefulness. Hate those nigglers. Without the aid of sleeping pills I end up tossing and turning, pacing, and reading until the wee hours of the morning. Last night I took a melatonin right away and settled down to science blogs for some insta-happiness and relaxation. This is how I discovered the below-posted MinutePhysics about the darkness of space.

So, yes, last night I may have fallen asleep imagining the Doctor (Who) picked me up and asked me where I'd like to go and I asked him to take me a few billion years into the future to where the universe has expanded so much all the stars are too far away to see and the sky is just dark. Utterly dark. I'd simultaneously be exceedingly excited and sad to see such a sight.

Wouldn't it just be breath taking and mind blowing?

And I've been wondering, if the universe is expanding, is our solar system expanding? I haven't heard anything about us getting further from the sun. I don't think we are but why? I definitely need to understand this dark matter/expansion thing much more.

And since humans--particularly those of industrialized/first world nations--have gotten larger (I don't mean obese), significantly larger over the last hundred years, that means our organs have grown proportionally as well, right?

Everything is expanding.

Friendships are expanding. Can I say that? The strange and great thing that's happened since I've been off in the northern plains is that friendships that were disappearing or only small potentialities have grown. Currently I'm the worst snail mail pen pal ever, but via phone and email people I never expected to know better have reached out and become my regular correspondants. Please appreciate the awkward nerd-language there. Naw, let's say charming. Also, Grace is now coaching me on what pop music I should like via email. Now if only A.G. and I can skype sometime, we can get some good dancing in.

In conclusion, if you get the chance, could you mail me a couple of mountains? I'd really like to take a hike.